Hello from California

[RVKM]

Hello, I am just getting started with a wine kit. I already have a swell of questions, but books, and the good folks on the interwebs are a blessing. I live in Glennville California which is between the central valley (Steinbeck country) and the Sierra Nevada's. I am a high school english teacher, I ride vintage motorcycles, I am a Navy Vet, and grip of other things. Mostly I'm a husband and a father.
My first attempt is a Cabernet from Master Vintner. I just started primary fermentation and expect to spent the next several hours reviewing the intricacies of hydrometer readings, clarifiers, and mishaps of the bottling process. This forum seems incredibly helpful and from the few posts I have read, people seem kind and willing to share their wisdom and knowledge. Cheers to all the life-time learners out there!

 

[4score]

Welcome aboard! Kits are a great way to get started and will perhaps lead to ambitions to crush your own grapes (I mean you ARE in California!).

Oh no, an English teacher....now we have to all watch out grammar!

 

[Arne]

Howdy, welcome to the forum. Arne.

 

[NorCal]

Welcome, 4Score is right.

Your timing is good to get a few kits under your belt and start looking for a source of grapes near you. If doing it by hand, it takes around 100 lbs of grapes to make a 5 gallon carboy. Grapes are typically ready to pick in August.

Think of kits as paint by number, versus a blank canvas with fresh grapes. Riskier, sure, but it is very hard to make a better wine than doing it from good, fresh grapes.

 

[Bodenski]

Welcome to the forums from the other coast!

 

[Johny99]

Welcome to the forum, I too started with a kit, now it is a vineyard and a harvest of almost 3000 lbs last fall. Be careful the disease is catchy::

 

[heatherd]

Welcome to the hobby!

 

[bkisel]

Welcome to WMT!

I too started with kits. Still mostly do kits but added fruit/country wine making to my hobby.

 

[cgallamo]

Welcome! At the University of Virginia there are no clocks. Thomas Jefferson wanted to send a message that learning is constant and timeless.

This is a fantastic forum. The people are completely selfless and you can always get a rapid response. Especially valuable when you need to correct a mistake.

 

[bionerd]

Welcome to the forum and hello from a fellow teacher! The people here are really nice and have been very helpful!

Definitely check out the hydrometer reading instructions on here. That was really helpful. (And also explained how I managed to make a "jet fuel" level alcohol level on my first try before learning how to use that thing haha)

 

[opus345]

Welcome!

I jumped into fruit wine making to work on my skills and technique before I started to hork up some kits. We just tried our Sangiovese kit that has been bulk aging for 9 months and the first words out of my wife's mouth was, "I don't think we are sharing this with anyone and you should start another Sangiovese as soon as possible." I'm still a newbie after 7 kits and 8-10 fruit wine batches, but this forum is what I read at the end of the day on the tablet. Great information and great people.

 

[BlueStimulator]

Welcome from one newbie to another. Everybody here has been so helpful and I love reading and learning from the wealth of knowledge from this forums members.